Stars:
Sylvester Stallone, Tom Berenger, Charles S. Dutton, Sean Patrick Flanery, Dina
Meyer, Robert Patrick, Robert Prosky, Courtney B. Vance, Polly Walker, Jeffrey
Wright, Kris Kristofferson, and Rance Howard
Writer:
Ron L. Brinkerhoff
Director:
Jim Gillespie
Feature
length: 92 minutes
Languages:
English Hi-Fi Stereo Sound
Subtitles:
N/A
Packaging:
Double Jewel Case With A Slipcase
Chapter
Stops: 9
Sound:
Hi-Fi Stereo Sound
Year
of VCD Release: 2002
Home
Video Distributor: Universal Home Entertainment Through HVN In Malaysia Only
MPAA
Rating: Not Rated
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Here
is a film starring Sylvester Stallone that as far as I know has never received a
theatrical release in the USA and according to what I have read, Universal Home
Entertainment has no plans on releasing it to home video in America at this
time. However the film itself is being released on DVD in other countries like
the United Kingdom, but unless you have a Region Free DVD player with a built in
PAL to NTSC converter, you have to ask yourself, is it really worth it? Back in
April Universal Home Entertainment released “D-TOX” legally on VCD through
their Malaysian distributor HVN complete with the Malaysian Government Stamp of
Approval on the packaging. Now at least with the VCD, you can watch the film on
your DVD player as long as it is backwardly compatible with Video-CDs and in the
case of this particular title, can playback both PAL and NTSC Video-CDs. Not all
DVD players can do this so you must check your player’s instruction manual
before buying. Odds are if your players can playback VCD movies then you can
probably watch them in both the PAL or NTSC format. I know Pioneer does an
excellent job with playback of PAL VCD as well as NTSC VCD and I have seen RCA
players play them as well, but again check your player’s documentation to be
sure. These discs can also be played on computers with a CD-ROM and media
viewing software like Windows Media Player. The other reason why I found the VCD
of interest is that if I am going to take a chance on something, I’d rather
pay less than ten dollars then pay more to import the DVD, especially if I do
not have a code free player capable of PAL to NTSC DVD playback. So as far as
I’m concerned, this VCD is a practical solution for anyone curious about the
movie, but who does not want to shell out a lot of extra money to see it
Stallone
plays a cop turned FBI Agent after a serial murderer who brutally kills cops
without much of a pattern except he always uses a driller to blind them. He is
close to catching the killer, but does not foresee the killer targeting his
fiancée (Dina Meyer) in what is certainly one of the film’s more gruesome
moments. Crushed, Stallone and the force track the killer to an abandoned
warehouse only to find that it is a decoy. Another officer is dead and the
killer is still free with no way to track him.
Months
later, fellow law enforcement agent and friend (Charles S., Dutton) drives our
crushed hero to a remote detoxification facility for cops in the mountains so
Stallone can get over his drinking problem that has developed since the loss of
his fiancée. There with various other law enforcement personnel who are in the
same program for various substance abuse problems and whatnot, Stallone is
trapped when a huge winter storm blocks any access out of the facility grounds
and bodies begin to appear with their eyes drilled out, signaling that the he
killer is among them and posing as a cop. Maybe he is a cop, but since no one
knows who he or she might be, everyone is a suspect much like John W.
Campbell’s “Who Goes There?” short story that was adapted into “The
Thing From Another World” by Howard Hawks and “The Thing” by John
Carpenter minus an alien shape shifter.
From
the Director of “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” “D-TOX” is a strange
hybrid of thriller and horror that just barely runs over 90-minutes and
considering the amount of stars playing supporting roles, one would think that
the film would have turned out better, but alas it looks as though there is a
good reason why Americans have not seen the film yet and that appears to be
evident in some absolutely incomprehensible and contrived story elements as well
as some heavy handed editing. However as much as this film is a stinker, it is
actually a very entertaining stinker. I have never seen Stallone in a film that
had the overtones of a horror picture, at least not purposely, and for what I
guess could be called a pseudo straight-to-video release, “D-TOX” is pretty
much a darker Stallone vehicle with more gore, but not as bad a film as you
might think.
HVN
and Universal Home Entertainment presents “D-TOX” to VCD in a full-framed
(1.33:1) aspect ratio. I do not have any information on the theatrical aspect
ratio, but I am guessing it was probably (2.35:1). Unfortunately HVN has never
been one of my favorite compression facilities for VCD movies so the picture
quality is like bad NTSC VHS at 6-hour speed made worse because of the
limitations of MPEG-1 compression really show during the storm sequences. The
artifacting and video noise are among the worst I have ever seen on a VCD. It is
a great shame because just like DVD MPEG-2 compression has improved over the
years so has MPEG-1. The rest of the film is quite watchable picture wise, but
even with the picture limitations of VCD; this could and should have looked much
better.
A
good English Hi-Fi Stereo Soundtrack is provided with frequent use of the
subwoofer to create a digital quality creepy sound experience that adds to the
film’s overall feel. There are no captions or subtitles encoded at all on to
the Video-CDs. Disc one feature a very rudimentary interactive menu and scene
selections occur every ten minutes. Disc one has a running time of 44-minutes
and 50-seconds while the balance of the film runs on disc two at 47-minutes and
12-seconds. The discs are housed in a deluxe jewel case capable of holding four
discs that comes within a handsomely packaged slipcase. Being a 2002 Universal
release, one can see the “E.T.” 20th Anniversary Logo flying over
the Universal Globe before the film’s opening credits and there is an
advertisement for “Universal Studios Japan” after the feature.
“D-TOX”
is available on VCD now and can be ordered directly online from Eureka
Movies.com.
©
Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.